


Looking for Love

by LemonCakeDesign



Series: Almost (Sweet Music) [19]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Domestic Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:00:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28001289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LemonCakeDesign/pseuds/LemonCakeDesign
Summary: Is love locked inside meWaiting for me to set her free?Is love all around usIs it the air we breathe?
Relationships: Warrior of Light/Thancred Waters
Series: Almost (Sweet Music) [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1535039
Kudos: 11





	Looking for Love

“I’m going to die,” Thancred whines, thudding his head against the table. 

Valliant snorts. Across the room, Pike doesn’t pause, continuing to sing his lullaby to the baby in his arms. 

Said baby is the product of Pike’s last solo adventure. He’d departed early in the morning, and by afternoon had shown up back at the Rising Stones with a baby in his arms. According to him, her mother had been attacked by monsters on the road to Limsa. The Maelstrom is on looking for any family that she has, but she apparently screamed bloody murder when someone tried to separate her from Pike at the command, so back to the Rising she came.

Thancred hadn’t been there for any of _that,_ of course. No, he’d been meeting with a group of Doman shinobi, passing on information from an Alliance meeting, and had returned to see his partner holding a baby and looking absolutely adorable with her.

“It’s unfair,” he says, muffled against the wood. “No man should look that _good_ with a baby.”

“Ah, everyone thinks that,” Valliant says. “First time I saw Merlwyb handing candy to one of the littles at the orphanage I damn near jumped her right there in front of the Navigator and everyone. If you like kids, your partner will look good with them. Biological imperatives and all.”

“I’d thought it was bad when I saw him braiding Ryne’s hair,” Thancred says. “That should have been worse, right? Because she was my kid.”

“Babies are cute,” Valliant replies sagely.

“Fuck.”

She snorts again, pushing the mug of ale closer. “Drink your sorrows, you fool.”

Pike switches to a lullaby in what Thancred recognizes is Miqo’te, only to stop. “Ah,” he says. Thancred looks back at him (a mistake, he feels his soul curdling at how damn cute the sight is), a questioning look on his face. “Thancred or Valliant, I’m going to want back up, so one of you should stay sober.”

Thancred looks forlornly down at his ale and slides it to Valliant. “It’s easier if it’s me, I’ll bet.”

“You do sleep in the same room, yes.”

Pike sends him a blinding grin. “Love you, Thancred, thank you.” Then he turns the smile down onto the baby. “Uncle Thancred’s going to help! Isn’t that nice, Eileen?” Eileen, the baby, gurgles happily, and Pike’s smile goes soft and melty. 

Thancred lets his head hit the table again, to the sound of Valliant’s hysterical laughter.

* * *

Pike does _not_ miss this part of babies, he remembers. The waking up in the middle of the night part.

To be fair, his current issue with it is how heart-wrenching the cries are. “Shh,” he whispers to Eileen, rocking her gently. “Don’t cry, kitten, it’ll be alright.”

He’s already checked her diaper, checked if she’s hungry, tried putting her back to sleep. This is a different type of crying, the kind that comes with missing a familiar face that won’t come back. She may have imprinted on Pike a bit, as a safe person after her mother’s death, but there’s no replacement for an actual parent who loved you.

Elphina was still young enough to cry like this after their mother died. 

He shakes off that thought and paces. He’ll probably have to let her cry it out, until she decides she’s done. Pike starts to sing, quietly mindful of Thancred still asleep in their bed, in hopes that the sound will at least soothe her.

It’s not until he’s halfway through the song that he recognizes it; a song his father would sing when he was sick or upset. It’s a mindless little tune, just words strung together to make something soft and soothing. He remembers getting the flu so badly one year, and crying with the pain of the fever, and his father smoothing the hair from his face while singing the tune.

“It’ll be alright, kitten,” his father had said, in between songs. “You’ll get better soon.”

He doesn’t realize he’s crying until the song chokes off with it, and soon he and the baby are crying in tandem, a soulsad harmony that echoes through the room and, predictably, wakes up Thancred.

“Pike?” He asks, still groggy with sleep.

“It’s fine,” Pike says, choked. “Go back to sleep.”

Thancred doesn’t, sitting up in the bed and motioning for Pike to sit next to him. He does, passing Eileen to his partner at his quiet insistence. “What’s wrong, darling?”

Pike sighs. “I just missed my dad,” he says. “It’s been years, but I started singing a song he used to sing me when I was upset, and I guess I just thought too much about him.”

“It’s okay,” Thancred says. “Grief doesn’t have a time limit, you know. And I’m sure the stress of this little one doesn’t help.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Pike replies. Eileen’s calmed a bit, now, either from exhaustion or the natural dad energy Thancred exudes, and Pike wipes a few stray tears with his thumb. “She’s too young to be alone in this world, Thancred.”

“I don’t think there’s a right age for it,” Thancred says. “And she isn’t, you know? She’s got us, and whatever family she has left.”

“If she has any.” Pike sighs. “I don’t know what I’ll do if she doesn’t. Take her to the orphanage, I guess, and they’re good people there, but...oh, I don’t know. I can’t keep her, not with the life we lead.”

“No, we really couldn’t. Not unless we left the work behind, and…”

“It wouldn’t be safe, anyhow,” Pike says with another sigh. “I doubt Garlemald would happily let me retire, even if the Alliance could somehow let me go.”

They look down at Eileen, who’s finally stopped crying and looks back up at them with wide eyes. After some time, Thancred breaks the silence. “I didn’t realize you wanted children.”

Pike shrugs. “I do and I don’t,” he says. “I like kids, you know? And there’s so many in this world who need a good home. But it hasn’t been something I could _have_ since the Frumentarii. Maybe if I’d retired back when I first wanted to, with Haurchefant—”

“You were going to _retire?”_ Thancred asks, incredulous. “I can’t imagine it, somehow.”

“I was really tired when we got to Ishgard,” Pike answers. “After the incident with the Sultana, with everyone but Valliant and Urianger gone, I wasn’t sure I could handle pulling together what remained of us. I figured I’d get through all the nonsense with Nidhogg and make that place safe, see if it felt right. Then...well. Everything that happened, and now I’m happier doing it than I ever was, so I don’t really want to retire.”

“Selfishly, I’m glad,” Thancred says. “It gives me no small amount of comfort to have you at my back.”

“And you at mine.”

Somewhere in their conversation, Eileen’s gone back to sleep. Thancred stands and returns her to her borrowed cradle, and steps back to the bed. He sets a hand on Pike’s head, one thumb pressing into the base of his ears. It bleeds out the rest of the tension from Pike, and he leans into it, purring a bit. Thancred huffs a quiet laugh, then uses his hand to push Pike back into the bed and following him down. They fall asleep like that, and thankfully, all occupants of the too-small room in the Rising Stones sleep through the night.

* * *

A runner from the Maelstrom comes the next day, with news: they've found Eileen's father.

Pike gathers his charge up with care, making sure to keep her protected from the cool fall air. There's a strange trepidation gathering in him, and Pike can't tell if it's his instincts or just a general sadness to be parted. Despite the crying and the screaming, Eileen has been an entirely delightful baby to take care of. She seems delighted by everything around her—Pike's hair charms had served to entrance her for nearly an hour. And not to mention her _laugh,_ which is just about the sweetest thing Pike's ever heard. Yes, he'll miss her when she's gone, for certain.

The father, a man named Eric, meets them in Limsa Lominsa. He's understandably distraught, wearing his grief on his face like a mask, but the darkness breaks when he glimpses Eileen and a smile, sad and soft, grows on his face.

Pike hands her over easily, then, placing her in her father's arms. "I'm sorry I wasn't in time to save your wife," he says. "I was able to speak with her for a moment, but she only had time to tell me your daughter's name. I...she was very brave. She kept your daughter completely safe, she wasn't even bruised when I found her. I know that's not a comfort, but..."

The man nods, tears shining faintly in his eyes. He shifts Eileen in his arms. "Tara...she would have been happy to know Eileen was safe. That's all she would have wanted. Thank you."

"I know we don't know each other very well," Pike says, laying a hand on the man's shoulder. "But if you ever need anything, I would be happy to help you. I know it can be hard to lose your partner. And to be solely responsible for a child. It's not an easy thing you'll be facing. So if you ever get into trouble, or just need someone to talk to...send word to the Rising Stones. Or if you just want to brag about your beautiful child." 

Eric nods again. "Thank you. I'll be sure to keep it in mind. And if...if you'd like to visit sometime, that would be nice." Eileen reaches up and tugs on one of Pike's front braids. Eric smiles at the sight. "I think someone, at the very least, would be happy to see you."

Pike chuckles a little. "I think I just might. Take care, Eric."

He leaves then, with one last wave to little Eileen. His heart clenches when she pouts a little, and he has to take a settling breath. He'll see her again, and he'll have made the world a safer place when he does.

And one day, when Pike's done, when monsters in the form of people are no longer is responsibility, then. Then he can think about settling down and taking care of a kid of his own. It's a nice dream to have, he thinks.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah I'm back on my soft Pikecred bullshit. 
> 
> I got into the MDZS fandom recently, and accidental baby acquisition is a Big Thing in that fandom, and I got to thinking about Pike with kids. And then the problem of seeing someone you like be good with kids and be all soft and having to go lie down for an hour about it.
> 
> In the future I think Pike ends up making a lot of trips to hang out with Eric. Eric is Average, the kind of man who looks at adventuring and breaks out in a cold sweat, and him and Pike being friends is probably Pike saying wild ass shit and Eric just being like, "bro what the fuck." And Eileen adores her Uncle Pike. Just sweet things!


End file.
